Milestones September 1997

Santa Fe painter Tom Lovell died June 29 in a car accident which also killed his daughter, Deborah Lovell. Born in 1909, Lovell began illustrating “pulp” magazines while a student at Syracuse University, NY, in 1930. After graduating, he produced illustrations for magazines such as National Geographic. Lovell’s paintings reflected his love of history through their subject matter and high degree of accuracy. Having built a reputation as a meticulous historical painter, he was commissioned to do 14 paintings on the history of the West in 1969. Lovell devoted the rest of his career to western subjects, moving to New Mexico in 1977. He was a recipient of the Prix de West gold medal and a charter member of the National Academy of Western Art.

Taos gallery owner Arlene Egan died June 21 after a long illness. Egan, 51, was co-owner of One Nation Gallery and The West Gallery with husband Larry.

Ghost Trees of Carmel Beach by Kevin Macpherson

Tidbits

Kevin Macpherson, president of the Plein Air Painters of America, won first place in the 1997 Plein Air Carmel show in California in May. Second place went to Stuart Britain of Laguna Beach, CA, and third to Gil Dellinger, Stockton, CA.

Glass artist Flo Perkins of New Mexico has designed a floral bouquet for the winner of the 1997 SAFECO Classic LPGA tournament, held September 8-14 in Seattle, WA, and will create trophies for the winners for the next five years. SAFECO is one of the first companies to use artworks as trophies for a golf tournament.

Dr. Bruce Bernstein of Santa Fe, NM, is the new assistant director for cultural resources at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He will launch the museum’s new Cultural Resources Center, scheduled to open in 1998 in Suitland, MD.

Two’s Company by Duane Bryers

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art has acquired 220 works from Chuck and Jan Rosenak’s collection of contemporary American folk art, which is especially rich in innovative objects by Native American potters, weavers, and carvers.

Creating ‘Picturesque America’: Monument to the Natural and Cultural Landscape [1994 Vanderbilt University Press] by Sue Rainey won the annual Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art awarded by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art. Where There is No Name for Art: The Art of Tewa Pueblo Children [1996 SAR Press] by Bruce Hucko won MultiCultural Review’s Carey McWilliams Award for “an outstanding book relating to the U.S. experience of cultural diversity.”

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is staying open Mondays and later at night to better serve its visitors. New hours are noon to 8 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday; noon to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; closed Wednesday.

Transitions

Douglas Hyland has resigned as director of the San Antonio Museum of Art, TX. During the past five years he was instrumental in securing major grants, attracting high-quality exhibitions and raising more than $11 million for construction of the new Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art. Gerry Scott III, curator of ancient art at the museum since 1990, will serve as interim director during a national search for Hyland’s replacement.

Featured Artists

Gradually, the artist found less and less satisfaction in merely “painting what I thought would sell.” That’s when he began turning back to the mostly American Indian-inspired figurative works that the East Coast gallery owner had warned him to avoid.